Servotronic Steering Rack Service.

[willg54]

Just been quoted about £73 for a ZF service kit for my rack. This a good price? Cheaper from dealers maybe?

[Error404]

sounds expensive, I'm sure the OEM kit form the dealer is about £50.

[willg54]

OEM is approx £35 for the seal kit...ill go oem!!

How do you tell if its servotronic or not? mine is a 1996 ABY.

part numbers
8A1 498 020
895 498 020 - Servotronic.

[LHD_Kid]

OEM is approx £35 for the seal kit...ill go oem!!

How do you tell if its servotronic or not? mine is a 1996 ABY.

part numbers
8A1 498 020
895 498 020 - Servotronic.

Only the 3B had servotronic (as far as I know...)

I'll be interested how you get on with ordering that kit.... wanna organise a group buy...!

I've got to do this also, so will see what you get in your kit....

Chris

[willg54]

Well ive just ordered the non-servotronic kit, £38 inc vat. Apparently on 2 in left at the moment.

I'll keep you posted on what come with it, should have it by weds if i can pick it up.

[willg54]

Here's the main pinion bearing. If you fancy changing that one it is made by SKF, P/N 61906 ETN9+.



If you want to change the small bearing at the tip of the pinion shaft you are on your own, I'm not digging that one out.

is this bearing sealed or just open? decided ill replace it while its out!

[4WheelDrifter]

It's an open bearing held in with a circlip IIRC. I can't see how it would wear much, so I didn't replace it for the sake of it.

Could you do us a favour, please? Get a picture of the contents of the seal kit bag, and let us know how you get on.

[willg54]

doesn't look identical but here's what i got. Difference may be down to it not being servotronic?!

[willg54]

seems like im missing R from the original post, the pinion spindle seal...AWESOME!

[mouse]

Below are the bits I got in my ZF kit - except for the fitting sleeves which I got from AndyP.. I didnt get 'R' either and may have some extra seals but I haven't yet thought about exactly what goes where...

.. over a month ago I decided to get going on this with a spare rack bought but hit a snag when it came to the end cap .. I did manage to get it off after about an hour bouncing off a 3m pipe over a pipe wrench but the cap had pretty much welded itself to the rack body with corrosion .. I have a good cap now after getting another old rack off a 20v 90q but I'd need to get the thread in the S2 rack body re-cut as its full of the cap thread and corrosion (can't use the 90q body as its a different design) .. so I assume i'd have to find a machine shop to do this in a lathe as it's a 50mm diameter thread and I dont think I can get a tap the right size
Might even just cut my losses with the spare rack and rebuild the one on the car

Also one step I didn't do when taking apart the rack was :

..... with removing pinion. Onli note the position at 1 end of the travel .....

Would this cause a big problem if reassembled in a different position ?

[Error404]

I've had the same problem with two racks now dude, the caps seem to either come off easy or not want to come off at all!!
One I cracked the rack housing itself on one using a fook off pair of stilsons on the cap with a 6ft scaffold pole on the end.

[willg54]

Just took the end cap off (came off easily!) and its pulled a bit of the thread off...hopefully with a bit of cleaning it will be ok....

Any suggestions on what to do if its not ok? Guessing find another rack and hope that ones ok?

[willg54]

thought id put a pic in the relevant post aswell.

Thanks again Stu for the great tutorial! couldn't be better!

yet to check if its properly sealed, i need to pick up some fluid. i did have 1 seal left over i didnt know where it went, but for the life of me i cant find anywhere for it. I've changed the ones i think would be leaking so im happy!

[Error404]

Looking good I like shiny stuff
I seriously recommend pressure testing it before it goes back in as there were a batch of kits that leaked badly and its engine back out the change it if you are unlucky

[willg54]

How do you pressure test it out of the car then??